US monthly shipments ahead, imports up 66%

Portland and blended cement shipments in the US and Puerto Rico in March 2015 rose by 3.5 per cent YoY to 6.3Mt, latest data from the US Geological Survey (USGS) show.

Shipments for the year through March totalled 16.4Mt, up by 5.7 per cent from the same period of 2014. The leading producing states for Portland and blended cement in March were California, Texas, Missouri, Florida and Alabama, in descending order. The leading consuming states (Texas, California, Florida, Georgia and Arizona, in descending order) received about 45 per cent of the March shipments.

Clinker production totalled 5.5Mt in March 2015, down by 3.4 per cent from the output in March 2014. Production for the year through March was 15.5Mt, up by 8.2 per cent from the same period in 2014. The leading clinker-producing states in March were California, Texas, Missouri, Florida and Alabama, in descending order.

Increase in imports
March 2015 imports of cement and clinker of 775,000t were 66 per cent higher than those in March 2014. Imports for the year through March totalled 1.75Mt, up by almost 39 per cent YoY.

“The increase was partly relative to a continued depressed basis in the first quarter of 2014 and thus may reflect a partial return to normal patterns,” the USGS said.

The agency added that much of the increase has also been into relatively few custom districts: cement from Canada into Detroit and Buffalo, cement from China and Greece into Houston-Galveston and cement from China into San Francisco and Seattle